Bouteflika candidate for a fifth term in Algeria

His candidacy was hardly any doubt on the other side of the Mediterranean. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will be running for his own succession in the presidential election on April 18th. In power since 1999, the head of state, 81, will seek a fifth consecutive term.

According to the official press agency APS, this application will be made official during a message to the Nation, which will be broadcast later in the day.

In this message, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, if elected, assures that he will set up an "inclusive national conference" whose objective will be the development of a "political, economic and social platform", or even "propose an enrichment of the Constitution ", simply states the APS.

Rare appearances in public

The health of the head of state fueled speculation on yet another candidacy. Weakened by the aftermath of a stroke in 2013, the Algerian president only allows very rare appearances in public (once a year on average). "Will they dare to maintain Bouteflika? At the end of 2018, the daily Liberté, which feared "a coup by the men of the regime" to prolong the life of the current system.

The presidential alliance, a coalition of four parties that support the Algerian head of state, nevertheless killed any suspense by appointing Abdelaziz Bouteflika a week ago as their candidate. At the end of December, the secretary general of the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA), whose voice counts in Algiers, had already called for a fifth term for the current president.

If the opposition question again the ability of the head of state to lead the reins of the country, the outcome of the election is not in doubt. The president, who managed to end the civil war (1991-2002), remains popular with the population. In 2014, when he was already weakened physically, Abdelaziz Bouteflika was reelected with 81% of the votes.

The official closing of the files for the presidential election is scheduled for March 3 at midnight.